Category: Corruption

In my speech, I am going to talk about this ever-growing and dire topic: “Corruption is a cancer. A cancer that steals from the poor, eats away at governance and moral fiber and destroys trust; it eats away at a citizen’s faith in democracy, diminishes the instinct for innovation and creativity”. These eloquent words from Joe Biden and Robert Zoellick are just as relevant here in this classroom today as they were when first spoken. They accurately describe the ongoing issue of corruption and why it’s so prevalent, especially in developing countries. So, what exactly is corruption?

Corruption (as defined in the Cambridge English Dictionary) involves dishonest or illegal behavior including a person in a position of power, for example openly accepting money for doing something noted as being illegal or found immoral. Corruption can be instituted in numerous forms: bribery, graft, extortion, kickback, cronyism and embezzlement leading to the unfair favoring of particular individuals over others. 76% think wealthy individuals often use their influence on government for their own interests. Nevertheless, each and every type of corruption is highly important. Furthermore, tackling them is critical to achieve progress and sustainable change in our world as it is our world: yours and mine. Corruption is a significant issue in today’s society, often devastating the economy and citizens, it creates inequalities in the distribution of income and wealth as well as affects a nation’s development economically and politically. £100 billion of dirty money passes through systems and services every year. It perpetuates the inequalities and discontent that form extremism, conflict and violence. Not only is this ever-growing issue unethical, but it also hinders development and undermines the founding principles of democracy.

Empirical studies have shown that the poor pay the highest percentage of their income in bribes. Multiple studies have suggested that the poor may even be preyed upon as they are seen as powerless to complain. Every stolen or misdirected pound, dollar, euro, naira, peso or rupee robs the poor of an equal opportunity in life and prevents governments from investing in their human capital. This major issue has detrimental effects on the poorer members of our communities with increasing costs and reducing access to services, including health, education and justice. In Paraguay, the poorest households are forced to pay nearly 13% of their income in bribes; twice as much as the richest households. Countries capable of confronting corruption should use their human resources more efficiently, attract more investment and grow more rapidly. To make inroads against corruption we require collective determined efforts to overcome endowed interests. Transparency combined with open and unfiltered governance are typically only part of the story in our goal to achieve completely exempt world of corruption. But the political rewards to addressing corruption can regularly exceed the costs of upsetting interests and due to the cowardly actions of the governments in this particular area we will never move forward. We will continue to partake in the constant loop.

Each one of us has a world that they dream of. A world of their choices, their likes, their passions and desires. I too have a dream world of my own. I dream substantially of the world that I live in. I dream of a world spared of corruption. Although corruption is not endemic there are grave problems that need to be addressed, considering the disproportionate impact on the poor and most vulnerable, the diminishing trust in governance and with one another. This substandard practice is becoming increasingly integrated into us a society, everyone we know is touched by corruption and it is it is our duty, the duty of the youth to challenge corruption. In 2004, the Republic of Georgia fired 30,000 police officers (almost the entire traffic police force) due to corruption and built glass police stations to encourage an image of transparency. I urge you to remember that if our country fails, we fail but if our country soars, we too shall soar. We must get involved; we must care. It is not enough to sign a few petitions or think about what you want to happen in the world. We must act. Our thoughts will not change the world. Other people’s words will not decide our legacy. It is up to us. How will future generations remember us? John F. Kennedy once said: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”. What can you, what can we – the future of Loreto, of the world – what is it that that we can do? We need to be conscious that we can change this corrupt system. Just us. Together.

My proposition begins with the acknowledgement and understanding that corruption is a global problem that subsequently requires a global solution. At the core of corruption is the distinctly enlightening outlook that “Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts… perhaps the fear of the loss of power”, as said by John Steinbeck. In this sense, fear can be crested through the ideal of political polarization. Now, you may wonder what political polarization? It is not a term you hear every day. Technically, it relates to citizens holding strong and moralized attitudes about political and societal issues, people becoming ideologically entrenched in their own values and political beliefs, thereby increasing the divide with citizens who hold different values and political beliefs. Furthermore, political polarization thus fuels a perception of society as a struggle between ‘us versus them’, and may yield high levels of mutual conflict between ideologically opposing groups like the Liberal Democrats vs The Conservatives (UK political groups). This should not be the case it is not ‘us vs them’, we are all in this together and allowing the perception of people’s ideology of the world control us is not right because we are all the same and were created in the same image. We need to end this; we need to absolve this discriminatory practice from our society because our indifference configures the best benefitting breeding ground for corruption to grow and eventually flourish, being spread through our hearts and minds from the way we speak to the way we act and the tolerance we demonstrate towards one another.

Did you know that as many as 2 in 3 people worldwide believe that ordinary citizens can make a difference in the fight against corruption?

In conclusion, my dream world would dimmish the growth of corruption through promoting equal opportunities, rewarding people adequately for their work and services rendered. These actions will begin to promote a more level playing field thus eradicating the need for sly underhanded plays in the form of corruption. Our governance will be deserved of their place and the vulnerable with have the support they need because without strong institutions impunity becomes the very foundation upon which our systems of corruption are built. If impunity is not demolished, all efforts to bring an end to corruption are in vain. Whether it’s taking on an abusive school system, exposing a crooked driving instructor or blocking the re-election of a corrupt mayor, we are demonstrating our power to bring about lasting change in our communities.

Obedience, the idea that one should comply to the rules or wishes of another person or idea, along with its counterpart discipline, has been thought of throughout history to be the foundation of harmony and cooperation between individuals and society. According to Erich Fromm, a psychoanalyst and philosopher who studied Freud and Marx, “obedience is a virtue, while disobedience is a vice” (Behrens & Rosen, 574). In more recent times, psychologists have been asking if obedience can lead to corruption and evil doing, rather than the ideas established in history. Why and how does obedience lead to corrupt and unethical actions? Does this only apply to people who are predisposed to aggression and immoral wrongdoings? Or is this something deeper, that perhaps all humans can fall prey to?

One of the most famous, yet controversial, studies conducted based on the idea of obedience was done by Stanley Milgram in 1961 at Yale and Harvard Universities (Behrens & Rosen, 583-4). Milgram wanted to better understand the reason behind the massacre of the Jews during World War II, and if the German Nazi’s were really being obedient and ‘just following orders’. During these tests, Milgram tested whether individuals would violate their conscience by obeying immoral demands and inflict harm on another human being because they were ordered to do so by a figure of authority. Throughout this experiment, participants were tasked with being a ‘teacher’ and delivering an electric shock to the ‘student’, if they answered any questions wrong, increasing the shock from minor shock to dangerous and life threatening. After conducting his experiments, Milgram found that 65% of participants continued to maximum shock level and concluded that when tasked with an immoral order by an authority figure, everyday people were more inclined to obey and complete a heinous act, regardless of the pain they were causing someone else (Behrens & Rosen, 583-88).

An important thing to clarify, Fromm explained, is the distinction between the different types of obedience (Behrens & Rosen, 576). First, there is ‘heteronomous obedience’, which is being submitting to a person or sovereignty’s will, ideas, or orders. Fromm states that this form of obedience makes one disregard their independence and conform to the ideologies of another. Additionally, ‘autonomous obedience’ is the act of obeying one’s own beliefs and ideas. Another important distinction, according to Fromm, is the concept of rational and irrational authority, in which the former commands with common reason that others can accept, while the latter uses force or motivation in order to convince others to obey. Finally, there is the difference between the ‘authoritarian conscious’, obeying an internalized power, and ‘humanistic conscious’, which allows people to discern from right and wrong, what is destructive and productive of life, and what constitutes us as human beings (Behrens & Rosen, 576-77). Throughout history, all over the world, individuals have proven consistently, that ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process.

Milgram’s experiment found that ordinary people were inclined to follow the orders of those in power, even if the order harmed or potentially killed another person. This experiment targeted normal, everyday men in the community that were simply answering an ad in the paper. These individuals, according to a recount of Milgram’s experiment by Saul McLeod from Wigan and Leigh College, were all males in the New Haven area between the ages of twenty and fifty and ranged in skills from no skills to professional skills. Milgram’s experiment showed how everyday people can make horrendous decisions when ordered to, even if that authoritative figure is irrational. Even though participants were concerned about the person they were inflicting pain on while they shocked them after being given a wrong answer, the scientist, who was an accomplice of Milgram, urged and manipulated them using forceful suggestions such as: “It is absolutely essential that you continue. You have no other choice”.

While Milgram’s experiment found that typical individuals were affected by the concept of obedience, he also found that this applied simply because they were performing a job. To illustrate how this affects people in another situation, between 2003 and 2006, American soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq became victims of ‘heteronomous obedience’, when their superiors ordered them to extract information from prisoners by whatever means necessary, resulting in the torture of prisoners. According to Jerrold Post and Lara Panis of George Washington University, the guards at Abu Ghraib explained that the physical abuse they inflicted upon prisoners was because they were following orders ‘to set the conditions’ to enhance the interrogation” and that they assumed they were following orders correctly because their superiors never told them otherwise (Post & Panis, 5). These individuals felt that they were simply doing their jobs, and that meant to be obedient to their superiors wishes. This desire to follow orders obediently ultimately led to the prison guards to ignore their ‘humanistic conscious’ and disregard what they knew to be right and wrong, as well as partake in activities that were ‘destructive of life’, as Fromm explained (Behrens & Rosen, 576). This lack of ‘humanistic conscious’ and obedience in authority resulted in the guards in Abu Ghraib to treat the prisoners as if they were inhuman, lack empathy for them, and become amused by the degradation that they inflicted..

Together with doing their jobs, Milgram also stated that obedience can occur and result in a devastating act, even when the individual had no hostility towards the person or situation. During Milgram’s experiment, participants frequently expressed that they were concerned about the man in the other room, indicating that they had no ill-will towards the man. In the face of authority, however, these individuals were able to continuously administer stronger shocks each time because they were able to push the responsibility and consequences of their actions on the person in power. This can also be seen in another example from the television show ‘The Push’ by Derren Brown’. Like the focus of Milgram’s experiment, ‘The Push’, by mentalist and illusionist Derren Brown, wanted to find if someone could be convinced to follow the orders to push someone off a building and to their death. During the show, Brown created a series of scenarios for the unassuming contestant that continued to intensify, resulting in the contestant being told by the charity board to push the main investor off the roof, lest they all go to jail. Brown conducted this with four different contestants, resulting in three out of the four following orders and pushing the man to his death (Raeside, par. 9). These contestants had no animosity towards the investor and went to the event with no heinous intentions in mind. However, when faced with a situation where someone in power, or in this case multiple people in power, ordered them to hurt another human being, they followed orders almost every time.

Despite the fact that Milgram expressed these individuals had no hostility, the end result was them becoming agents in a terrible destructive process. First, it is imperative to point out the importance of social psychologist Solomon E. Asch’s study on group pressure. In this study, he found that people were more likely to forfeit their own judgement in order to side with a group of peers, even if they were wrong. Together with the Sandford Prison Experiment by psychology professor Phillip Zimbardo in 1973, these studies help illuminate Milgram’s findings. Zimbardo’s experiment’s purpose was to study the concept of compliance and authority in guards and prisoners and they came to behave in those manners. The Stanford Prison Experiment involved placing college males into the role of either prisoner or guard in a fake prison, where they would assume their assigned roles and act accordingly. This experiment put these students in a situation where they responded to their ‘authoritarian conscious’, responding and treating their peers in ways that they perceived a prison guard to act like, one student even claiming they used the main character of ‘Cool Hand Luke’ as a reference. In an interview, one participant expressed that when they put on the guard’s uniform, it was like they became that entity. Obeying this conscious resulted in the students acting as guards humiliating, ridiculing, and harassing their peers in ways that was affecting both roles’ psyche. Additionally, while these young men were following a ‘rational authority’ that acted with justification-the police-they did so in a convoluted way. Asch’s experiment on group pressure aides to the explanation of why so many of the fake guards began acting in such a manner. One student, who deemed himself as the ringleader of the intense and cruel treatment of their peers, stated that even when he was crossing the line and being aggressive, no one questioned his authority. Because of this, students behaved more ‘sadistic’ as the days progressed. Ultimately, after six days the experiment had to be terminated due to the harm that was being inflicted on all the participants’ mental health. Being obedient to an authority figure, even an internal figure, combined with following a groups judgement rather than their own, resulted in these young men being “agents in a . . . destructive process” (Behrens & Rosen, 606).

The act of being obedient is one that has been valued throughout history as a virtue, but has a hidden, sinister side. Following his 1961 experiment, Milgram believed that obedience to authority could cause people, who may not normally act in these ways, to partake in inhuman actions. Throughout history, scientists, researchers and the everyday person has proven that given the encouragement, anyone is capable of abandoning their own judgement and critical thinking skills and act out an indescribable order in order to please or portray the ideas of someone in power. Because of the works of these researchers, along with Fromm, we will be able to better understand and recognize the different ways we obey authority and gives us the power to use our own judgments and values to act in ways that will preserve humankind. We are given the chance to prevent the “termination of the world by an act of obedience” by being disobedient (Behrens & Rosen, 574).

Corruption in sport is understood as any illegal, immoral or unethical activity that attempts to deliberately distort the outcome of a sporting contest, usually for the gain for someone(s) involved in that activity. Corruption in sport was initially meant to refer to any action that aims to earn money by distorting the outcome of sport contests by means of bribery/throwing a game for money. Nowadays, this has extended to other unethical behaviors such as distorting the allocation of mega-sporting events, biased decisions made by governing bodies and fixing bet-related matches. Corruption scandals have increased in modern sports, even in Australia. With growing money inflow and the globalization of sport, corruption can now damage all aspects of the sporting business.

Some examples of corruption in sport are featured below that will be useful in understanding and preventing this corruption.

Referee Match Rigging in Italian Football Serie A

Rigging a match plays a crucial role in its outcome. For example, in the 1994-1995 championship, one minute before the end of the Juventus-Brescia match, the referee offered a non-existing penalty to Juventus. In Italian Serie A, the assignment of referees was very complex and highly discrete. In 2006, a major scandal was uncovered by Italian prosecutors after tapping Juventus’ phone conversations. They found that the general manager of the club had various contracts with referees, football federation officials and journalists during the 2004 and 2005 championships. It was found a total of 78 matches were likely to have been rigged, and these did not only involve Juventus.

Candidate Cities Bribing International Olympic Committee (IOC) Member for Votes

Following the huge growth in the number of candidates for hosting the Olympics during the mid-1980s, cities attempted to ‘influence’ IOC members in ways that were ethnically questionable. A large number of IOC members accepted favors or valuable gifts such as free vacations, jobs, or even cash to vote for the candidate city. These practices were made public in the media as of 1986 when electing the 1992 Olympic city, although they probably existed before that date.

The Sheridan Report published in 1999 established that the head of the 2000 Sydney candidature committee admitted to various acts of lobbying (an attempt to influence the decisions of government), including the use of ‘agents’ to obtain votes from African Olympic representatives. In 1993 just before the IOC cast its votes, the Australian Olympic Committee offered AU$65,000 to two IOC members, the representatives for Kenya and Uganda.

2008 Renault Formula One Crash

The Renault Formula One crash, called Crashgate by some in the media, was a sporting scandal caused by the Renault F1 team, which ordered Nelson Piquet Jr. to deliberately crash during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, to give a sporting advantage to his Renault teammate Fernando Alonso.

On the 14th lap of the race, the Renault R28 driven by Piquet crashed into the circuit wall, causing a safety car deployment. The other Renault driver, Fernando Alonso, had previously made an early pitstop, and was promoted to the race lead as other cars had too pitstop under safety car conditions. Alonso won the race after starting 15th. Piquet described his crash at the time as a simple mistake. This shows how far some people are willing to go in the cases of sporting corruption as it could have caused Piquet’s death.

2018 Australian Ball-Tampering Scandal

The 2018 Australian ball-tampering scandal was a cricket scandal surrounding the men’s Australian national cricket team. During the third Test match against South Africa Cameron Bancroft was caught by television cameras trying to rough up one side of the ball with sandpaper to make it swing in flight. Captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner were found to be involved and all three received sanctions from Cricket Australia.

Conclusion

Corrupt sport has become such a significant criminal economic activity that it deserves a deeper focus, especially since the affect it has on the gameplay. As it is shown in most of these cases and many more, corruption involves cheating which affects gameplay making game immoral and unethical.

This can further be seen as a widespread problem through the fact that between July 2015 and December 2016, nearly 1,500 people in Spain faced trial for corruption, with around 70% being convicted as guilty. Also, over the past 30 years many ‘high-up’ figures in Spain have had to go to trial over corruption, including top business officials, ministers, regional presidents, mayors and even members of the royal family. This would suggest that it something that is deeply rooted in Spanish society; political figures are meant to be completely unbiased and act in the best interest of the people, however it has been proven that people are able to abuse their power in order to maximize their own self gain. This unhealthy culture can have a further negative impact on society as if the general public see that public officials are doing this easily and with a lack of consequences, it may inspire them to do the same, yet it is unlikely it would have such a profound impact given that they have less power.

Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that there is common knowledge that corruption is a large problem in Spain. For example, a study carried out by the European Commission in 2017 revealed that 63% of Spaniards asked believe that the amount of corruption in Spain has increased in the last 3 years; 94% believe corruption is a widespread problem in Spain; 58% believe that corruption impacts their daily life; 75% generally agree that corruption is a part of business culture. Evidently, these statistics are very worrying as it is clearly impacting people’s lives, whether it be in their day-to-day lives or only in their work.

It is clear that the governmental policies and legislation that were in place was not effective in preventing corruption as if they were, scandals such as the Gürtel case and the Barcenas case would not have occurred. According to a report that was carried out by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1999, the sanctions for central government employees for corrupt behavior were set out in Chapter 8 in the 1964 versions of the Ley de Funcionarios Civiles del Estado (Government Service Act) and those for other public employees were set out in the Ley de Incompatibilidades (Incompatibility Act), 1884. Having translated some parts of this document, it can be seen that the sanctions that were in place included dismissal from the government, suspension, change of position, loss of pay compensation for one to twenty days and a written warning. The report also states that there were other anti-corruption regulations such the Ley de Contratos de las Administraciones Públicas (Public Contracts Act) and the General Budget Act. The bodies in charge of enforcing the sanctions and prosecuting corrupt activity that breaks the legislation outlined by the Penal Code are law courts. Also, the Board of Audit had audit jurisdiction for accounts to be rendered by any person collecting, handling, administering, safekeeping, or using public funds or property. There were no investigative systems or bodies with powers to investigate corrupt activity directly at the time, however there was a supreme financial audit authority, an agency coming under the Intervención General de la Administración del Estado (Economic Affairs and Finance Ministry), which monitored all of the financial dealings of branches of central government. It is evident that the actions of this agency were not sufficient in order to detect the illegal cash donations received by Luis Barcenas, recorded using a parallel bookkeeping method. In order to deter and prevent corrupt practices on top of the sanctions, the General Budget Act allowed the inspection of all dealing that gave rise to financial rights, with the inspection being carried out by the Intervención General de la Administración del Estado at any time. In addition, ethics courses were provided for government officials at all levels, covering topics such as the principles of ethics, ethics and law, the constitutional significance of public service, analysis of public conduct, ethics in public organizations and ethical values and administrative culture. It is important to note that these policies are on a national level and there may be some additional separate regulations that vary depending upon autonomous community.

Not only is it apparent that the past governmental legislation that was in place was fairly ineffective and lacking, the guidance and training for public officials and politicians also did not provide a sufficient disincentive to completely deter people away from corrupt actions. Given this information, one may argue that the most efficient way to combat this problem is through tighter governmental legislation with greater disciplinary measures, as this may provide the largest incentive to not engage in these activities that bring private gain at the expensive of the general public.

Following the recent scandals, legislation has been adapted and improved in an attempt to faze out corruption from the Spanish government as well as the whole society. The Spanish Criminal Code establishes corruption in international business transactions as an autonomous crime, which can be located under Article 286. With respect to domestic bribery, Articles 419 to 426 of the Criminal Code outline that public officials that commit bribery by receiving a bribe (passive bribery) will be punished, as well as those who issue the bribes (active bribery). These anti-bribery laws are relatively strict, with the Criminal Code not providing any exception for gifts, travel expenses, meals or entertainment; any goods or compensations, despite their economic value, fall under the scope of the legislation against bribery.

Public corruption has plagued the city of Detroit slowing the cities revival and betraying the trust of its people. For the government to be trusted we must have consistent and thorough investigations of the city’s public officials. Public corruption is defined by the Federal Bureau of Investigations as, “the FBI’s top criminal investigative priority, poses a fundamental threat to our national security and way of life. It can affect everything from how well our borders are secured and our neighborhoods protected as to how verdicts are handed down in courts to how public infrastructure such as roads and schools are built. It also takes a significant toll on the public’s pocketbooks by siphoning off tax dollars—it is estimated that public corruption costs the U.S. government and the public billions of dollars each year. The FBI is uniquely situated to combat corruption, with the skills and capabilities to run complex undercover operations and surveillance” (FBI, 2019). “…policy analysis represents an attempt to dissect problems and solu­tions in what is usually described as a rational manner. By this, practitioners mean that they bring information and systematic analysis to bear on policy issues and try to show how a given set of goals and objectives might be achieved most efficiently” (Kraft & Furlong, pg. 28). The policy being analyzed includes the Kwame Kilpatrick Indictment as well as the Detroit Area Public Corruption Task Force as solutions to the problem of public corruption in the city of Detroit.

Though public corruption is a nationwide issue, nowhere else have we seen more public corruption than In Detroit and its surrounding areas. Steve Neavling of the Metro Times reports that “Fifteen cops. Five suburban trustees. A former state senator. Millionaire moguls. They’re among more than 40 public and private officials charged as part of a long-running and expanding federal investigation into public corruption in metro Detroit” (Neavling, 2019). These officials have been charged with crimes such as extortion, bribery, money laundering, conspiracy to distribute drugs. Neavling claims that these 40 officials could just be the beginning. The corruption in Detroit goes not partisan either. Tom Perkins of the Metro Times explains, “The level of corruption in Michigan is staggering. It’s Democrats, Republicans, it’s the entire political establishment, which is mostly a cesspool of morally bankrupt dirtbags working on behalf of corporations and the wealthy instead of the middle and lower class” (Perkins, 2019).

Why would our public officials commit such a high level of fraud and risk their entire career on it? Victor Hartman and Sridhar Ramamoorti claim that corruption is a human act and can be understood intuitively. They explain how corruption starts small with acts that rid of ethical behavior that leads to more major ethical erosion in a type of domino effect. “They are unaware of what is taking place, or may have a misplaced confidence in their internal, psychological defenses. In reality, before they realize what is occurring, it’s too late, the trap has been sprung, and the unsuspecting victim has walked right into it” (Hartman & Ramamoorti, 2016). These corrupt public officials are abusing their trust of the public for personal gain despite how harmful it can be to the people they have been elected to serve. Luminita Ionescu of Spiru Haret University explains what public officials can gain from going corrupt: “Corrupt public servants may choose to distribute more money to particular budget categories as expenses in these categories enable them to obtain more rents via corrupt practices”. What Ionescu is describing is extortion, something Detroit has seen many times. “The publicly hired agent’s choice to obtain money from corrupt contrasted with legal undertakings is contingent at the margin on contrasting the effects of honest conduct with the magnitude of the rents from illegal undertakings”. Ionescu is stating that corruption is taking money from the government for their own personal gain, something that can be very harmful in a city like Detroit (Ionescu, 2016).

Using government money for other purposes is unfavorable to the taxpayers these public officials are serving. Steve Neavling interviews Jeffrey Downey, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit office. Downey tells the Metro Times, “Public corruption erodes the trust that our citizens have in our governments, so it’s important that we investigate all of these allegations” (Neavling, 2019). “Corruption tends to pull away the composition of public expenditure from the necessary fixed assets for health and education, as there is less chance of getting commissions than from other, perhaps unnecessary projects”. Here Štefan Šumah explains another harmful effect caused by corruption. “Because of corruption, less taxes are levied than would otherwise be, as some of the taxes end up in the pockets of corrupt tax officials”. Public officials are evading taxes to keep more money in their pockets (Šumah, 2018). Jill Washburn of the FBI interviews U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade who states, “Public corruption robs citizens of the honest government we deserve. Bringing together resources from various agencies helps us to attack this problem wherever it occurs”. Washburn also interviews Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette who states, “Public corruption destroys trust in government. Taxpayers work hard for their money and have zero tolerance for those in a position of trust who abuse their authority” (Washburn, 2012). Unfortunately, Detroit has been hit hard by public corruption in its many forms however the future is looking bright for catching and prosecuting these criminals.

What is quite possibly the largest case of public corruption in Detroit’s history is the indictment of the former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Kilpatrick promised to revitalize the city and instead, he used his power to steal from the people he was supposed to serve. Kilpatrick was the Mayor of Detroit from 2002 until 2008 after he was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice. After some jail time and probation that was eventually violated, in March of 2013, Kilpatrick was convicted on 24 federal felony counts that included 10 counts of mail fraud, 3 counts of wire fraud, 5 counts of filing a false tax return, and one count of tax evasion. Seven months later, Kilpatrick was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison (Baldas, 2013). Kilpatrick was able to pay for his personal expenses and fund his mayoral campaigns by taking funds from the Kilpatrick Civic Fund. The Civic Fund was a tax-exempt social welfare organization that was registered with the IRS. U.S Attorney Barbara L. McQuade of the Department of Justice states that, “Kilpatrick used Civic Fund monies to pay himself cash kickbacks, which he took from the paychecks of an individual employed by the Civic Fund, to provide money to friends and relatives, and to pay for items such as counter-surveillance and anti-bugging equipment, yoga and golf lessons, golf clubs, summer camp for his children, personal travel, moving expenses, car rentals and leases of cars and a personal residence”. The indictment also alleges that Kilpatrick paid for campaign expenses using the Civic Fund. “The tax charges in the indictment allege that, while Mayor of Detroit, Kilpatrick received unreported taxable income of at least $640,000 between 2003 and 2008, including cash, private jet flights, and personal expenses paid for by the Civic Fund. The indictment alleges that Kilpatrick filed false tax returns, failing to declare this income in tax years 2003 through 2007, and that he evaded taxes in tax year 2008”. The charges against Kilpatrick have truly afflicted the City of Detroit (McQuade, 2010).

The investigation on Kilpatrick was conducted by the FBI and the IRS and the case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Michael Bullotta and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark D. Chutkow (Schneider, 2010). The FBI first opened the case in 2004, two years after he took office. Kilpatrick left a trail of evidence that he was corrupt that the FBI uncovered via wiretaps, undercover operators, text messages, and bank statements. The FBI reported that, “Kilpatrick’s bank records revealed more than $840,000 in unexplained expenditures above and beyond his salary as mayor—and none of that money was disclosed on his tax returns”. Kilpatrick truly thought he was above the law and that he would be able to get away with whatever he wanted. “During his six years as mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick pervasively and systematically corrupted city government…The citizens had the right to expect honesty, integrity, and responsibility when they elected Kilpatrick. What they got instead was widespread graft, extortion, and theft” (FBI, 2013). CBS News Detroit states, “scandals destroyed his political career and helped steer a crisis-laden city even deeper into trouble” (CBS News Detroit, 2013).

The methods used by the FBI and IRS in Kilpatrick’s investigation were proven to be successful and have locked up a public corruption criminal for 28 years. The success of this investigation has led to the creation of the Detroit Area Public Corruption Task Force. Steve Neavling states, “Bombarded with allegations of corruption in 2012, the FBI assembled the Detroit Area Public Corruption Task Force, a team composed of local, state and federal law enforcement” (Neavling, 2019). This task force is made up of local, state, and federal law officials with a goal to rid Detroit of any other public corruption harming the cities revival (Perkins, 2019). “The Detroit Public Corruption Task Force will help ensure that those who violate this trust will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law”, DOT-OIG Special Agent in Charge Michelle T. McVicker states. Washburn states: “Public corruption is currently the highest criminal priority within the FBI Detroit Division. The dedication, hard work, and collaboration of all those involved have already resulted in countless violations exposed. The focus of the task force will continue to be on corruption at all levels of local, state, and federal government” (Washburn, 2019).

The Detroit Area Public Corruption Task Force has proven to be very effective with several corrupt public officials being sentenced for their crimes. The task force has convicted a former Detroit police officer by a federal jury on the charge of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances (Department of Justice, 2019). They had six Detroit police officers charged with extortion (Department of Justice, 2017). They sentenced a former Detroit deputy chief of police to 12 months in prison for bribery (Department of Justice, 2018). They convicted a former Detroit Public Schools principal on bribery charges (Department of Justice, 2016). They sentenced a former City of Detroit employee to prison for embezzling $265,000 from the city (Department of Justice, 2018). They indicted a Detroit police officer for taking $15,000 in cash bribes from a drug trafficker. These are just a few examples of the work the Detroit Area Public Corruption Task Force has done towards convicting corrupt officials. “The dedication, hard work, and collaboration of all those involved has already resulted in countless violations exposed”, says Washburn. (Washburn, 2012). U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider explains that “Our statistics show we lead the nation in corruption cases, by far…Every state has about one corruption case each year…while larger districts like New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami, usually see around four. In Michigan, there were about 18 per year for the last five years” (Perkins, 2019).

“Only fifteen years after World War II, Detroit’s landscape was dominated by rotting hulks of factory buildings, closed and abandoned, surrounded by blocks of boarded up stores and restaurants” (Surgue, pg. 147). Detroit has truly struggled in the last couple of decades and public corruption has not been a positive addition to its revival. We need people to believe in our city, and if Detroit’s citizens can’t gain the city’s trust, then how will we get investors in this city to make positive change. Tresa Baldas of the Detroit Free Press argues that “Kilpatrick is not the main culprit of the city’s historic bankruptcy, which is the result of larger social and economic forces at work for decades”, federal prosecutors said in court documents. “But his corrupt administration exacerbated the crisis”. The Detroit Area Public Corruption Task Force is working towards this issue that goes beyond large officials like Kilpatrick. If the mayor of Detroit can be indicted, so can anyone else no matter how small or large the crime.

The world today has a lot of many contemporary issues. Every contemporary issue is a widespread issue around. One of them is corruption. Corruption is something unworthy of one person’s way to gain power. It is one of the worst ways to gain power. It involves many types of stealing money. This is mostly done by the rich people for gaining more wealth than how wealthy they are already. Corruption is always illegal for many reasons.

For some people, corruption is the way to gain money through illegal means. And by means, they do what they can do, no matter how illegal, to gain more power. It is present a lot in the government. This is because of how high the position some politicians are. Due to the high level, they would use it as means to gain power and wealth more through illegal ways. This would range from graft to bribery to overpricing and more. This is a way they abuse their own power by going taking risks in doing illegal things to get power. This would only end the positions for most of the people.

Many negative effects happen to a lot of people due to corruption. The corrupt politicians would lose their position for abusing their power just because of corruption. A country’s growth and development would be hampered because of this. Gaining power and wealth for selfish deeds would contribute to the regressing of the economy. As much as the government provide laws on corruption, it is still happening to today. The people’s respect and trust in the government is lost all because of corruption. Only because of the issue, many conflicts between people will only increase more.

Conflicts between people include one being against the other. People will not be able to compromise with one another for their sides on the government. By conflicts, it means that corruption will also increase in its citizens. Poverty also increases due to the some of the politicians’ selfish deeds. People will be negative affected in their work and life for their economy. A supposed income meant for the people’s needs and for the country’s development will only have a loss due to corruption. Certainly, a lot would never benefit from such acts done by some politicians. A lot would lose hope in their country for the prevalence of the issue.

Luckily enough, laws against corruption are enforced. Although not able to persuade some, they were still enforced for the awareness of many in preventing corruption. For example, in the Philippines, many laws include the 1987 Constitution Article XI and the RA 3019: The Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act of 1960. The two government agencies of the Sandiganbayan and the Ombudsman also contribute on the plan to lessen corruption. Thankfully, these solutions still continue to today in helping to prevent the issue. As an issue, everyone must be aware of what is happening and what will happen if the people continue to do use corruption. Corruption must also have awareness for the politicians for the government is what the people trust in leading the country. In the end, corruption will always be illegal in gaining power.

Corruption is present almost everywhere in the world. But in this special on this continent, corruption got a big place in the society. Effectively, South America is one of the most corrupt continents in the world just after the Africa and before the Europe.

In Colombia, recent reports reveal that the Brazilian construction company has been bribing the country’s public officials considering that 2010. With the 2018 presidential campaign heating up, the revelation is spurring dissatisfaction with President Juan Manuel Santos and imperiling the country’s fledgling peace process.

On April 1, up to 16,000 Colombians took to the streets to decry corruption and express ongoing dissatisfaction with the peace accords signed with the FARC guerrillas. It was, in many ways, a march against the Colombian political establishment. Public debate around the marches was largely redirected by mudslides in the metropolis of Mocoa, the capital of the Putumayo province. They killed more than 300 citizens, consisting of dozens of children, on the night of March 31.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos flying over the flood-hit areas of Putumayo province. The tragedy gave Santos, who is now getting into the last 12 months of his administration, the opportunity to reassert his leadership. And it temporarily relieved the pressures that the Odebrecht corruption scandal was exerting on his government.

Colombia is now not a regional outlier. Mass protests in 2016 famously contributed to the impeachment of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. And continuing public ire has helped spur the courts there to ship numerous high-ranking officials to detention center for corruption. Argentina and Chile are also seeing residents protest leaders from the political left, right and center. In many cases, public outcry is linked to the large number of government officials determined to be in the pocket of Odebrecht, whose bribery network reaches from Colombia and Peru to Angola and Mozambique. But in Colombia, the corporation is only phase of a more intricate story behind current protests. Public malfeasance has long been common in the country. The 1994 presidential campaign of Ernesto Samper, for example, was found to have been funded via the Cali Cartel, then one of Colombia’s most powerful trafficking organizations. Even the main instigators of the April 1 march – former President Alvaro Uribe and former Inspector General Alejandro Ordoñez – have themselves been found to be trapped in various corruption scandals. But that well-reported reality has not stopped them from actively mobilizing public opinion towards corruption within the present-day government. President Santos faces an unusual and contradictory political reality. Internationally, he is nicely regarded as a Nobel Peace Prize winner lauded for his efforts to stop Colombia’s armed conflict. But, at home, he is highly unpopular, with disapproval ratings of 71%. This is due to an ironic twist of fate for the president. In signing the November 2016 peace accords with the FARC guerrillas, Santos took the previously overwhelming question of armed conflict out of the spotlight and allowed corruption to take center stage in the public mind.

Santos is a career politician, who served as minister of defense under his predecessor Alvaro Uribe, and is the grand-nephew of a former president. His detractors, led through Uribe, who is now among his most strident critics are now using this experience to discredit him, calling him ‘immoral’ and ‘corrupt’. As proof for their claims, they cite a formal investigation by Colombia’s legal professional general into whether the Odebrecht bribes played a position in Santos’ 2014 presidential campaign.

Presidents with irreconcilable differences. The anti-Santos right-wing coalition includes the scandal-beset Ordoñez, as properly as former minister of defense Marta Lucía Ramírez, and former vice president German Vargas Lleras. All of them fiercely opposed and nearly derailed the FARC accords in 2016. And all intend to run for the presidency in 2018.This group does now not have enough help to wield veto power in Congress. But with the aid of uniformly resisting any action undertaken through Santos and using smear campaigns to have an effect on voter opinion, it has been successfully undermining the credibility of the current administration over the past two years.

The April 1 march is another tactic. In leveraging corruption concerns, the opposition seeks to position itself ahead of Santos’s party in next year’s presidential campaign. Among other declared candidates, individuals of Uribe’s faction will go up against Humberto de la Calle. He is a distinguished figure from the Santos camp and was once the government’s lead negotiator in the FARC peace process. They will also stand in opposition to Bogota’s leftist former mayor, Gustavo Petro, whom Ordoñez removed for administrative malfeasance. The favorability rating of most of these would-be presidents has been falling recently, showing a well-known loss of legitimacy for Colombian political parties and their representatives.

In this twisted fashion, Brazil’s Odebrecht corruption scandal, which is certainly no longer just limited to that country, brings to the fore the paradox of Latin America’s burgeoning citizen engagement. It is vital for democracy that human beings voice discontent with corruption, and Latin Americans’ increasing intolerance for the bribery, embezzlement and deal-making that has lengthy characterized institutions on the continent is good. Protesters in Peru march against the Odebrecht scandal, which has the political establishment reeling.

In many countries, the Odebrecht backlash has verified dramatic, increasing ire towards governments already under giant pressure for unpopular measures, such as Brazil’s price range cuts and Argentina’s teacher strikes. In Colombia, it is putting institutions to the take a look at and shaping presidential politics. Corruption can no longer be cloaked under the veil of national security pursuits and blamed on the existence of an armed group like the FARC. The absence of a fighting rhetoric within Colombia obliges the authorities to be more in charge to citizens. That too is healthy.

But when popular outrage is manipulated through political operators who seek to strengthen their interests, democracy suffers. As in Brazil (where the main driver of Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment, Eduardo Cunha, has now been jailed for corruption), politicians in Colombia tainted through other scandals are the use of Odebrecht as a Trojan horse to position their own political agendas.

It is a risky tactic in a nation that is still fantastically fragile. If Colombia’s institutions fail this challenge, the USA could face a dramatic political transition, and a kingdom attempting to quit war may find peace once more endangered.

Corruption is a crime where a person gets benefits like freedom, contracts or privileges from another person after giving money, gift or even entertainment as bribes. Generally, corruption is defined as the abuse of entrusted power, status or wealth for private and dishonest gain. According to the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), corruption can be classified into four forms, namely, requesting or receiving favors, offering favors, making false claims and misusing job or position. Based on Corruption Perceptions Index reported by Transparency International, Malaysia scored 47 points out of 100 (with a scale of 0 to 100, where 100 indicates very clean, corruption-free country and 0 reflects a deep-rooted, systemic corruption problem). This means that Malaysia is merely on average score, even lower in the test of integrity. In other words, Malaysia is still wreathed in the smoke of corruption. In order to shield our country from the corrupt climate, the factors that attributed to the causes of corruption need to be figured out before relevant measures are being suggested.

First and foremost, the most significant factor leads to corruption is the dark personality traits of a human. Greediness is one of them. Greed is a selfish desire and excessively lust for more than deserved, especially in the form of wealth, power, position or any other materialistic possessions. Everyone has a tendency to be greedy. Greediness leads to unfettered desire which challenges one’s moral boundary. Regardless of personal integrity, a greed person will do whatever, including corruption, in order to satisfy his own desires (Dimant & Tosato, 2017). People feel contented when they taste the personal advantage brought by corruption. Neglecting their moral basis, they will involve more in corruption as they are addicted or used to enjoy the short-term benefit provided by this delinquency. Another dark personality trait is selfishness. I bet most of us used to hear or used to say some arguments such as, ‘Everyone does it’, ‘I just want to minimize my losses’, and ‘I don’t harm others!’. The innate human behaviors of rationalizing own wrongdoing corrode the society when everyone thinks that corruption is not a matter. Consequently, society is covered by the atmosphere of dishonest and immoral. In short, not only the society leaders but everyone ought to promote corruption.

Another cause of corruption is the decline of social ethical sensitivity. Nowadays, Malaysian still overlooks the depth of the crisis of corruption. Most are still living in cultural environments that condone corruption. It is sad but is true that most citizens are merely anti-corruption verbally but in fact, they support and even admire these crooked practices unintentionally. For instance, some companies hired accountants, auditors, financial advisors, and any other professional bodies so that the companies can utilize the specialists to engage in illegal practices such as evading government taxes (Salas, 2018). Exploiting legal loophole and playing dirty trick seem to be immoral, but those succeed to do so usually get rewards, instead of publishment. Additionally, mutual screening among society also making corruption become less detectable. There is the likelihood that someone who realizes of corruption happening but keeps silent. Perhaps because of selfishness, or perhaps because of cowardice. Whatever the reason is, once they choose to cover up the corrupt individuals, they are indirectly agreeing with corrupt behavior. Hence, corruption occurs more frequently as nobody has adequate courage and willingness to denounce corrupt practices.

To sum up, low levels of civic participation make corruption more inconspicuous. Political monopolization wreaks havoc in our country by catalyzing occurrence of corruption. Over-dominion of an individual leads to power abuse of the authorizer. The thing goes worse if the authorizer has no service-oriented spirit but misuse politics for their personal interests. The authorizer may involve in corruption in order to content his personal greed. Besides, high levels of bureaucracy are also the main factor of corruption. There are a few kinds of research which claim that administrative and political structure inefficiency enlarge the possibility of corruption occurs. Tanzi & Davoodi, 1998, suggested that “the existence of regulations and authorizations gives a kind of monopoly power to the officials who must authorize or inspect the activity”. In other words, the more power of a social leader, the lesser the transparency and consequentially, the likelihood of his involvement in corruption augmented.

There is no silver bullet to combat corruption. One of the effective strategies is by reducing impunity for corruption involves. Stricter law enforcement is necessary to ensure those corrupt are penalized and interrupt the cycle of impunity. An independent, transparent and professional legal framework is essential where enforcement and prosecutor sectors can react to technical criteria without influenced by political power plays. In an effort to address this issue, Malaysia has come up with the official establishment of the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on 1st January 2009. MACC has a role in monitoring the nation’s anti-corruption efforts. The independence, transparency, and professionalism of MACC guarantee its effectivity and efficiency in solving corruption problem. Successful enforcement approaches reduce the possibility of police and prosecutors to have a vested interest to a minimum, whilst bribery between politicians become easier detected. Moreover, numerous studies have pointed out that the key to fighting against corruption is by promoting transparency. In the business context, transparency means the quality of being honest and open. It ensures that public sectors, civil servants, and organizations to act visibly and scrupulously, to bear public scrutiny (Rouse, n.d.). Regain of freedom of speech and accessibility of information among the public are the products of increasing transparency. Whistleblower protection mechanisms assure press and activists can speak, criticize freely the wrongdoing of government without fear of retaliation. Without political hindrance, news of intended corrupt practices of public figures spread rampantly via social media and other communications means, and hence, raise the level of public’s awareness. Improper action of civil leader has no way to be secret. Therefore, government bodies unable to abuse their political power to gain any private benefits. Simultaneously, levels of civil participation get a positive outcome. Hence, cultivate transparency is a must to ensure Malaysia steps forward to a corruption-free country.

Another significant strategy to nip the problem of corruption in the bud is by empowering citizens. In ‘How to Solve Corruption: 5 Keys Ingredients’, (2016) citizens are the most crucial component of a democratic country, such as Malaysia, where citizens play a significant role in demanding accountability and legitimacy of society leaders, and thus preventing corruption. Arouse Malaysians’ patriotism spirit leads to the readiness of citizens to serve and protect the country from the smoke of corruption. For instance, an involvement of Malaysians in monitoring local elections, making them keep an eye on all suspicious actions and courageous enough to speak out once discover the unreasonable cases like leakages of funds or emerging of buying votes. Therefore, community monitoring initiatives indeed contribute to the detection of corruption and improve the quantity and quality of public services indirectly. Besides, integrity should be promoted to the public. Schools and universities are responsible for educating youth about ethics and values, while private corporations are encouraged to practice business integrity and promote these ideas to become more mainstream. In a certain degree, these can perk up the citizens’ demand for anti-corruption and consequently, protecting Malaysia’s cleanliness and harmony.

Undoubtedly, corruption brings numerous negative impacts in a country politically, economically and socially. Corruption seems to be rampant across Malaysia, however, it is avoidable. No one is isolated and needless in the process of guarding corruption. In my opinion, improvements in Malaysia will only be made if there is a strong political will to transform, a comprehensive measure is adopted and sufficient supports from society. I personally think that Malaysia should look out cautiously and scrupulously the focal point to make changes that will bring about real improvement. Conclusively, corruption can only be kept curb if government representatives and society members work together. Corruption would not be rooted out in one big sweep. Instead, fighting corruption is a step-by-step, project-by-project process. Indeed, Malaysia has still a long way to go in fighting against corruption. But I believe that with the close and stable cooperation between government and civil society, the day Malaysia is admired for its integrity and become the model nation of the world is just around the corner.

The most recent scandal inside a commercial business was taking place and one of the most prestigious universities of the west coast The University of Southern California also known as USC. Most recently USC had come out at the center of a college admission scandal involving federal charges of bribery, cheating, and parents who had been willing to pay thousands of dollars in order to make sure that their potential underperforming children get into a number of the nation’s prime universities. Federal prosecutors have accused 50 rich parents, coaches and test proctors, among others, conspiring with William Rick Singer, a school admission adviser, of committing bribery and fraud to hurt students into a number of the nations most projected prestigious schools. I feel like this is not fair to the millions of students across the United States and internationally that put everything they have into getting into such prestigious universities, all for it to be a waste because somebody is just paying their way in and does not have to work as hard as these other potential students.

It was said that the parents had usually paid between 250,000 and 400,000 though it’s to be believed that’s some allegedly spent up to $6.5 million to help their children get extra assistance with cheating on standardized test, the making of fake athletic profiles and the bribing of officials, in order to boost their possibilities of admittance.

“The indisputable fact that there is this entirely separate system for athletes’ admission and recruitment that frankly lends itself to corruption and abuse is admittedly disturbing”, said Ariela Gross, a law professor at the University. Issue affected many students let try to get in such prestigious colleges thinking they didn’t have that right accolades, and weren’t the right fit to be a part of school at USC. When in reality there’ve been students that had simply paid a whole ton of additional cash and didn’t work as hard as others that genuinely attempted their hardest to attend a college like USC.

Their investigation is still going on and they are still uncovering the additional students as well as finding out that there are other top-tier universities that may have been involved with Singer which the distinguished Stanford University could’ve also been involved with. “Stanford sailing program received $770,000 from Singer’s foundation and the head coach pleaded guilty on March 12 two charges ‘that he excepted monetary contributions’ for a train to recommend to prospective students, according to the university”.

Another larger issue found had to do the subject of corruption within the US government for further more political corruption. Political corruption has existed and has been around for many years throughout the ages. Political corruption has been believed to be most prominent in positions of power, because of the role that money plays when gaining another individual’s power. Nonetheless, over the centuries’ corruption has changed so much that it doesn’t even have any similarity to the specific definition of corruption. In today’s society many Americans believe that there is an unbelievable amount of corruption within politics.

Per Jefferey Milyo, the author of nationwide ‘Influence and Political Corruption’, across the country representative opinion survey done in 2008 states that, “a very little over 50% of respondent agreed that corruption within the federal government is widespread and a particularly serious concern, whereas fewer than 5% thought-about-corruption within the center to be rare or not a concern. This leaves several Americans to believe that politics isn’t ‘inherently corrupt activity” (Milyo, 2014). This possibility, of course just checked out from many alternative views with quite a few major firms contributing too many political campaigns; and it is assumed that many of these politicians are being bought and have been bought in order to further profit corporations agenda.

Next, I found one the largest social media platforms Facebook played a role within the 2016 presidential campaign and heavens found aiding Donald Trump with his election driving time of the election a political firm that had been employed by the Trump foundation require access to personal information of Facebook users. That firm was Cambridge Analytica, which is been a firm employed by Pres. Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign, and they had gained access to personal data on over 15 million Facebook users. The firm had offered tools that would establish and target the personalities of American voters and their main goal was to influence their behavior. Cambridge have been mostly funded by Henry M. Robert Mercer, the rich republican donor, and author K. Bannon, a former consultant to the president. I feel that this made it easier for the Trump campaign to work with the firm since the president bar you had ties with them.

I found that within the 16th century, the government had failed to intervene when it came to corruption or anything that has to do with social and/or economic issues. The government has been expected to stay and control the safety and security, to assist in disasters and to run the finance of the Crown and country. It had been sent that “Elizabeth government did an inexpensive job in those areas”. I feel that we have and have a tendency to perceive that the 16th century British businesses government have been based on completely different political structures compared to the one we currently have in place. This meant that the character traditions of politics were inevitable to encounter favoritism: “You had to induce on someone’s sensible facet if you needed to stand out and advance”.

I feel like when you compare the Elizabethan era to the era we are in now, you can’t make too much of a connection, due to that time that these corrupt actions took place in. I feel like during the Elizabethan era the government had been more lenient and more forgiving tended to brush situations like this off, whereas in today’s society you have a higher chance to get caught, but I feel that corruption is more common within the 21st-century. However as previously stated, back within that time corruption had probably been accepted as a customary and normal practice and was a part of that era’s social norm. Which could be seen as a detrimental part of the society. My solution for both eras would be to end secret money so citizens know who’s buying political power, change how elections are funded to give every voter a voice, and eliminate political bribery by making it illegal for lobbyists to lobby a politician and donate to their campaigns.

It could be seen that the prerequisite powers of the Queen provided the system with its fairness and potency. However most significantly it had been the stability of the future and years to come that voters enjoyed and had taken a liking to beneath the Elizabethan government. In distinction to alternative Western European countries at the time, Britain had a wonderful social, political and spiritual stability that could be a testimony of the success of a good, simple and economical system of state. I feel that even though England had their issues with corruption within their governments and businesses there had been able to capitalize off of it and make it something bad into something good and turn around their future for the better.

Corruption is a major threat to the social, political and economic development and sustainability in every society. It is the abuse of a trusted position politically or in other organizations for personal benefits without a legal justification. The rising rate of corruption worldwide has led to a higher rate of human suffering and adverse effects to the economy. It takes many different shapes hence, a remedy of it in a given region will not necessarily be successful in another and this has led to a serious exploration. The following discussion outlines some of the factors that causes corruption.

According to Stefan (2017), the political and economic environment is a major cause of corruption. This is because most of the economic activity is limited and regulated by the government and due to the availability of corrupt opportunities of acquiring personal financial stability, they readily accept bribes from individuals who wants to acquire governmental benefits and the victims can always make amendments with money. Ackerman (1996) stated that bribery imposes an indirect effect on other commercial and service activities through taxation and the society as a whole.

Professional ethics defines the standard of conduct in relation to the various professions, it maintains the public trust in the profession to ensure a continuous service. Professional ethnicity has declined due to lack of transparency and lack of control by this supervisory institution, decline in personal ethnical sensitivity due to the negative experiences and restrictions by the government without sufficient legal basis has nurtured individuals to develop an attitude of self-gain hence corruption at all levels.

Ethnological factors include the habits, customs and traditions of a given society. Ethnography involves understanding their behavior which may be as a result of the situations in their environment. People have different attitude towards corruption, some are against it since it corrupts good morals and the bible is against it, some have socially accepted it as a quick way of attaining financial stability and attaining achievements and fame while some practices corruption because of the corrupt monopoly of power. Also, tribalism has contributed to corruption due to the lack of courage to condemn people from our own tribes but instead defend them because of our own interests.

Some of the ways to which corruption can be solved are as follows:

1. Revision of the anticorruption strategies on improving the efficiency and fairness of government to enhance the effectiveness of the private sector due to the unresponsive government.
2. Public participation in campaigns against corrupted projects in the society and encouraging people to make ethical decisions and actions to ensure personal and professional success.
3. The government should be a role model to the public by promoting ethical actions and good morals to the society in order to maintain the country attractive and respectful.

In conclusion, eliminating corruption is a long-term project to be handled from individual levels to the superior levels due to its widespread which has only caused human suffering and adverse effects on the society. I do believe a journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.

References

1. Delamont, S., 2004. Ethnography and Participant Observation. Qualitative research practice, 217, p.29.
2. Pardo, I., 2017. Introduction: Corruption, Morality and the Law. In ‘Between Morality and the Law’, pp. 9-26. Routledge.
3. Rivas, M. F., 2013. An Experiment on Corruption and Gender. Bulletin of Economic Research, Vol. 65, Issue 1, pp. 10-42. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2187722
4. Rose Ackerman, Susan, 1996. The Political Economy of Corruption: Causes and Consequences. World Bank, Washington, DC.
5. Sumah, S., 2017. Corruption, Causes and Consequences. Submitted: October 17th 2017. Reviewed: December 6th 2017. Published: February 21st 2018.
6. Shleifer, A. and Vishny, R.W., 1993. Corruption. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 108(3), pp.599-617.